What another lovely day.

So said
costume designer Jenny (Beaven), quite a declaration since she presumably had
to sit through the entire three-and-a-half-hour ceremony.

By most
accounts, Chris Rock acquitted himself reasonably well, defusing the controversy
over the whiteness of the nominations with some well-aimed quips, from the
introductory “Well, I’m here at the
Academy Awards. Otherwise known as The White People’s Choice Awards” to his
reason for not boycotting the show (“I didn’t
want to lose another role to Kevin Hart”) to the widespread indifference to
Mrs Will Smith’s non-show (“Jada
boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rhiana’s panties… I wasn’t invited”;
a risqué one, that) to drawing comparison to the ‘60s, when there were real things
to protest, with African Americans “too
busy being raped and lynched to care about Best Documentary Foreign Short”.
Then there was his suggestion that the in memorium would be dedicated to “black people shot by the cops on their way
to the movies”. I particularly liked the response to his straw polling
footage of African American audiences outside a cinema. When an interviewee’s favourite
white movie of the year was revealed as “By
the Sea with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie”, Rock quipped “Wow. Even they wouldn’t say that”.

As for the
trivial matter of the victors themselves, there were a few upsets, but in the
case of Spotlight, an early
frontrunner, the thing about making (relatively) early predictions is that like
Carly Simon, sometimes they’re coming around again; The Revenant had only become a serious tip over the last month. As
expected, Fury Road went home with
the most awards (half a dozen), and I did indeed come up with better guesses
than in 2015 (I got about 60% right this time, as opposed to only half then).
So I guess I’ll just keep on guessing.

Best
Picture

Winner:
Spotlight

I guessed:
Spotlight

It’s quite
heartening to see a film take the top award with only one other win (Original
Screenplay). This is the first time it’s happened since 1952 (The Greatest Show on Earth); conversely
it’s relatively rare that a near sweep feels deserved. Spotlight’s a solid, respectable choice for the top prize, far preferable
to the overhyped The Revenant. As to
whether Pope Francis will rise to Tom McCarthy’s challenge “to protect children and restore faith”,
I wonder how many priests would be left standing if he actually did clean papal
house.

Best
Director

Winner: Alejandro
González Iñárritu Again (The Revenant)

I guessed: George
Miller (Fury Road)

My biggest case
of wishful thinking was Miller being recognised. It was indeed Iñárritu again, the first back-to-back director win since the ‘40s (John
Ford and Joseph L Mankiewicz took them at opposite ends of the decade). There’s
no doubting Iñárritu’s filmmaking achievement, so
one can’t really feel anyone was unfairly slighted, it’s just a shame he didn’t
make a better movie.

Best Actor

Winner:
Leonard DiCaprio (The Revenant)

I guessed: Leonard
DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Well that
was a no-brainer. Leo goes home happy, fifth time lucky, 22 years after he
first missed out on an acting Oscar. Which, given how Pacino was known for
being forever snubbed, is a significant stretch (it was only 20 for Al). Leo
informed us that climate change is real, so he didn’t waste his time on the
podium.

Best
Actress

Winner:
Brie Larson (Room)

I guessed: Brie
Larson (Room)

Another
no-brainer.

Best
Supporting Actor

Winner: Mark
Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

I guessed: Sylvester
Stallone (Creed)

This was
the real upset. I was rooting for Rylance to win, so I’m happy, but it’s
interesting to see the way the Academy is or isn’t touched by nostalgia or
career-achievement awards. Perhaps the weight of Stallone’s actorly
transgressions were deemed unforgivable when it came to the crunch. It’s this
kind of twist that at least evidences occasional life in a ceremony coming at
the end of an all-played-out awards season.

Best
Supporting Actress

Winner: Alicia
Vikander (The Danish Girl)

I guessed: Rooney
Mara (Carol)

I was
foolhardy here, as the smart money was always on Vikander. But then, it was
always on Stallone too.

Best
Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Adam
McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

I guessed: Adam
McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

It had been
Spotlight and The Big Short all the way through the season, so it wasn’t seriously
going to change at this point. I’m a bit confused by McKay’s invitation to the
Academy that they “Don’t vote for candidates
that take money from big banks, or oil, or weirdo billionaires”. So… Does
that leave anyone, then? Unless he was being ironic. He had just thanked Paramount, after all.

Best
Original Screenplay

Winner: Tom
McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

I guessed: Tom
McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Similarly
earnest sentiments were expressed by McCarthy, stressing the importance of the
dying discipline of investigative journalism; Spotlight was made “for all
the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable”. Which
doesn’t mean there’s going to be an Oscars-nourished exposé of Hollywood corruption any time soon.

Best Animated
Feature

Winner:
Inside Out

I guessed: Inside
Out

Pixar’s eighth
animated feature win, although their non-noms have become more common in recent
years.

Best Documentary
Feature

Winner: Amy

I guessed:
Amy

Some
suggested Cartel Land might stage a
late in the game supplanting, but like Animated Feature, and Foreign Language Film,
there was never much doubt here.

Best Foreign
Language Film

Winner: Son of Saul

I guessed: Son of Saul

See Documentary
Feature above.

Best Cinematography

Winner: Emmanuel
Lubezki (The Revenant)

I guessed: Emmanuel
Lubezki (The Revenant)

Lubezki
makes history with three back-to-back cinematography wins. And you can’t argue
with his quality of work on the picture, easily its most impressive aspect.

Best Costume
Design

Winner: Jenny
Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road)

I guessed: Sandy
Powell (Cinderella)

While I rooted
for Fury Road, I expected Cinders to
go to the ball.

Best Documentary
Short

Winner: A
Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

I guessed: Last
Day of Freedom

I was split
on A Girl in the River or Last Day of Freedom being most likely; I
picked wrong.

Best Film
Editing

Winner: Margaret
Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

I guessed: Margaret
Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Highly
deserved, and contributing to the most awards Australia has garnered from the
Academy (besting Braveheart and Babe)

C3P0, R2-D2
BB8 may have presented it but, like Supporting Actor and Best Song, Visual
Effects confounded popular opinion. Ex
Machina went the reverse route of the more in-your-face spectacle of Fury Road and Star Wars, and on this occasion seamless surprisingly paid off.

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